


A Million Miles Apart

by Kamechan98



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Addiction, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brotherly Angst, Emotional Baggage, Enemies to Friends, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Feels, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Mutants, Personal Growth, Saving the World, Separations, Sister-Sister Relationship, Space Adventure, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-10 19:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12306357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamechan98/pseuds/Kamechan98
Summary: After an argument among the brothers, tragedy strikes as Donatello is separated from the team, leaving his family behind to grieve over his presumed death. Meanwhile, Donnie is thrown into a whole new world and is, alongside his new friends, racing against time and all odds to save his family and planet Earth from the evil Triceratons, and the terrifying Black Hole Generator.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello! My name is Kamechan98 and this is my first time publishing a story on AO3. Up until now I have only published on Fanfiction.Net. But I've seen a lot of great stories on here and many people seem to do it too, so I decided I wanted to try too. 
> 
> I really hope you'll enjoy what I have for you!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello! My name is Kamechan98 and this is my first time publishing a story on AO3. Up until now I have only published on Fanfiction.Net. But I've seen a lot of great stories on here and many people seem to do it too, so I decided I wanted to try too.
> 
> I really hope you'll enjoy what I have for you!

Journal entry, July 14th 2014 (A.K.A, about a week after the Wormquake incident)

_You know, I'm not gonna act like my brothers and I are perfect. I know we all have our flaws and we drive each other crazy that way, but still, I wouldn't change them in any way. To me, they're great the way they are. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's true. Call me a dork if you want, I still mean it._

_Leo may be a perfectionist, a teacher's pet, and sometimes a bit too protective and cautious, but he's also a great older brother to all of us. He's very strong, caring, and does everything he can to protect us from any harm. I believe that he, without a thought of hesitation, would just sprint into a burning building to save us, even if it meant that he would lose his own life in the process._ _Plus, he's also the only one of my brothers who doesn't crash or destroy everything he touches. Well, except the toaster but he doesn't do it intentionally._

_Raph is, to put it mildly, a hothead and very irrational. But he's a warrior through and through and that drives him to protect us from danger as well. He once told Splinter that he had no problem with risking his own life when in danger, but he would never risk our lives. That both worries me and makes me feel special. Raph might show it very rarely, but he has a soft side... But in order to cover it up he sometimes acts like a bully. Although to be fair, he's gotten less cruel since that first Kraang invasion when Leo sacrificed himself so we could get away._

_Mikey, well, what can I say about Mikey? He's very random, wild and very optimistic. I'm convinced that he lives in his own world where everything is awesome and always great. He's by no means stupid, but he has problems with keeping his focus and has a hard time staying serious. I told Splinter when I was ten that I thought Mikey had ADHD, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He's a great fighter and if he did focus a little more when we train, I think he could be better than Leo. But with that being said, he's really sweet and kind, kinda like a little kid. He's that light that keeps the dark away from completely surrounding us._

_But lately, ever since the whole Wormquake thing happened about a week ago, I have had a hard time getting along with the guys._

_Leo hasn't really been so bad, but he's stopped listening to me and my ideas about how to take down Shredder or the Kraang. And he barely even talks to me about anything else, the things I need to fix being the only exception._

**...**

Leo walked into my lab and I looked up from my computer with a smile.

"Hey, Leo. What's up?" Leo didn't smile back and placed one hand on the desk, looking me straight in the eyes. He wasn't pleased, I could see that.

"Donnie, I asked you to repair the Shellraiser three days ago and it's still not fixed. Why is that? We need it for tonight's patrol, and it's not ready or repaired. Why?" I held back a groan, stood up and walked up to him.

"Leo, I've tried to make time to fix it, but Raph and Mikey have been giving me other things to fix the last few days, and you know that they won't give me any peace until Mikey's video game system or Raph's punching bag is fixed. I've also tried to make more retromutagen for the mutants we have to un-mutate. I'm trying to make the time but-" Leo interrupted me and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Well, make sure to make the time you need! We need it tonight, so make sure it's ready!" He turned around and was about to leave, but I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Uh, Leo? I've actually come up with a few ideas for inventions that can help us take down the Kraang's portal, for example. I have an idea for an invention that can-" Leo shrugged off my hand and stared me down with stern eyes.

" _No_ , Donnie! Right now, all you need to think of is making sure that the Shellraiser is ready for tonight. Nothing else matters right now." And with that he left the room, leaving me feeling hurt and depressed. He hadn't even bothered to listen to what I had to say, he just shot me down and left. I sighed, turned off my computer, picked up my toolbox and walked over to the Shellraiser. I started to work.

**...**

_Raph has become more aggressive than usual and never listens to what I have to say. He breaks things, (probably out of anger) hands them over to me and just expects me to fix them without any second thoughts, since "that's all I'm good for", like he says._

**...**

"DONNIE!" Raph stomped into my lab with the toaster under his arm. He looked angry, as usual, and his loud voice made me jump in my seat, since I was so focused on what I was doing. I looked up from my laptop and tried to smile so Raph would calm down a little.

"Yes, Raph? What is it now?" Raph ignored that I sounded a little sarcastic and just dumped the broken toaster on my desk. I saw that a thin trail of smoke was seeping from the top and assumed that Raph had broken the toaster himself and hadn't found it broken.

"You have to fix this thing! Mikey's gonna complain all morning tomorrow if he can't make toast for breakfast, you know that just as well as I do!" I frowned at him and looked back at my computer.

"Sure, I'll get to that in a minute. I have to repair the Shellraiser's engine so we can use it tonight. The mechanics have messing with me a little to so I have to check that out too, and the electromagnetic-" Raph growled, slammed his fist down on the desk and made me jump a mile into the air.

"I don't  _care_  about what you  _have_  to do, just make sure that you fix that stupid toaster! It's been broken, like, a million times in the past, so fixing it now shouldn't take that long, right?" I took a few deep breaths to calm myself after Raph's little outburst, stood up and looked Raph straight in the eyes.

"Raph, don't you ever stop to think that I may have other interests than fixing things for you guys? Don't you think that I may want to just sit down and watch TV or play video games or do the things that you guys do with your free time? I'm only half-human, you know. I want to enjoy my time of being a kid like you do too." Raph just raised an eyebrow at me before he turned around to walk out of the room.

"Whatever! All I care about is that you fulfill your duty to this team. You're the smart guy, your task is to make sure that everything is repaired and built, and to hack into Kraang computers or find cures for their mutations. If you can't do that, what the heck are you good for then?" And with that, he left the room and I didn't know if I should be angry or start to cry. I did neither. I just took a deep breath, held it for five seconds and let it out. Then I picked up the toaster to fix it. Better fix this before Mikey comes in here and wants me to fix something that he broke himself.

* * *

_Oh, yeah. And then there's Mikey. Well, to be fair, he hasn't changed all that much. He still talks to me and wants to spend time with me every other day, like talk to me while I work or watch TV with me. But he has changed a little, though. He's become a bit more annoying and likes to come in and talk or try to convince me to do something 'fun' and that usually ends up with him messing something up in my lab so I have to start my projects all over again._

**...**

"Hey, D!" I groaned inwardly and silently counted to ten before I looked up from the chemicals in front of me and tried sound pleasant. Mikey stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall with slice of pizza in hand.

"Hey, Mikey. Do you need something? If you do, do you think that it could wait? I'm kinda busy at the moment." Mikey swallowed the last of his pizza and walked up to me.

"No, dude, I don't need anything from you. I just wanna hang out with my big bro a little. You've been locked up in here all day." I sighed. If Mikey wanted to hang out, then he would either stay in here and entertain himself or he would nag on me until I left the lab to do something fun. I tried to smile and put down the canister with mutagen and the small syringe with April's blood that I had asked for a few days ago.

"Thanks Mikey, but don't you think that Raph might be a little more fun to hang out with, or even Leo? I mean, I have to make more retromutagen and then I have to work on the Shellraiser a little. I'm not saying that you  _have_  to leave, I'm just saying that you would probably be bored if you hung out in here." Mikey just shook his head with a smile and then, to my horror, jumped up and sat down on my desk.

"Nah dude, I think you need someone to-" He stopped talking when he knocked over the canister with mutagen and it almost rolled down in my lap! Thankfully I was quick to get out of the chair and pull it away, and the mutagen hit the floor instead. The green goo spread out over the floor. Mikey and I stared at it for a while, and then he jumped off the desk, walked up to me (careful to avoid stepping in the mutagen) and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Donnie? Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" I shrugged off his hand, took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, then turned to Mikey with a forced smile.

"No, no, Mikey. It's okay, it was just an accident. Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you please get out of my lab so I can clean it up? I need to be alone for a moment." Mikey nodded understandingly, albeit a little dejectedly and slowly left the lab and closed the door behind himself. I let out a loud sigh and then grabbed the hose that I used whenever I needed to clean the Shellraiser and let the water wash the mutagen down into the floor drain in the middle of the room.

Mikey has always been a little clumsy, ever since we were little, but lately he has messed up quite a lot of my experiments or at least distracted me while I worked, which wasn't that much better. I've tried to ask him to be careful while I was working on my experiments or my inventions, but for some reason he always managed to knock something over or mess up the experiment altogether, like when he dropped that ice cream in the mutagen that later created Ice Cream Kitty. I guess that was just another part of his personality.

When I was done cleaning up, I picked up another canister filled with the mutagen and got back to work. Clumsy little brothers or no little brothers at all, I still needed to make that retromutagen.

* * *

_Ever since the Kraang and Shredder came back from the first invasion, we've all been a little tense. And I can understand that they all have their own ways of dealing with stress and pressure. But that doesn't give them a reason to use me as their punching bag. And the less I say about April and Casey the better. Casey and I have an especially hard time talking or just being in the same room without fighting or arguing. Though to be fair, it has gotten a little better since we worked together to get those Kraangworms back to Dimension X, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Though April has been around him most of the time and less with me so I haven't talked much to her lately._

_The only one who listens to me nowadays is Master Splinter. He listens when I say that I feel unappreciated and mistreated. And he told me to try and talk with them and discuss how I feel and that it should stop. But whenever I try, they say stuff like 'I don't have time right now' or 'I'm playing video games right now, dude, maybe later' or even 'Donnie, a whole city and even the world is at stake every day, we can't think of our own personal problems right now!' and it's starting to tick me off._

_They just never listen to me anymore. It's like I don't exist._

_Like I'm a million miles away from them, every single day..._

* * *

"Donnie, it's time for patrol!" I looked up from my journal. That was Leo, calling out to me from the living room. It was time to go out on patrol, so I had to stop writing and get out there, where the others were waiting for me.

"Okay, I'm coming!" I finished the last dot after 'day', put the pen down on the desk, closed my journal and put it down in one of my drawers where I had my other journals, under a thick book, so in case anyone went through my drawers they wouldn't immediately see them. I stood up from my desk, grabbed my bō staff and walked out of my lab, into the living room. Another day, another fight against evil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, that was a prologue and I hope it's got you hooked and that you want to read more. There'll be more drama into the next chapter, I can guarantee that.


	2. Chapter 1, Big fights and three words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donnie has had enough of being mistreated by his brothers and decides to confront them. It escalates quickly and some very harsh things are being said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, here's the first, real chapter of this chapter and I hope that you'll like it! I was listening to 'The Moon Rises' to get inspiration for the argument between the brothers and Donnie's thoughts, so if you've heard the song, you might recognise some things. And a little scene from Brave is also in there somewhere.

I walked around in my lab, thinking over the situation. Over the past few weeks I've been feeling more like a handy-man and less like a brother. And my brothers don't even seem to notice what they're doing. I mean, Raph and Leo never listen, they boss me around and/or give me a pounding if I don't obey them. Mikey hasn't really done anything out of the ordinary, just become maybe a little more thoughtless and clumsy. Nothing I can't handle. But that doesn't mean I should have to.

"I don't know, Timothy. It feels like they don't care about me anymore. I mean, I can do things no human can. Seriously, I can hack computers years ahead of our Earth's technology! I can make a cure for mutations! And I've made most our weapons out of garbage and made them fantastic! So why do they treat me like dirt and boss me around like a little kid who doesn't know anything?" I sat down in my computer chair and placed my face in my hands. I snuck a peek between my fingers at the frozen Timothy, who just stared out into the air. Anger started to boil up in me and I stood up, clenched my hands into fists and frowned at the closed the door that led to the living room where my brothers were watching TV.

"Is it so wrong to ask for a little consent? And is it so wrong to ask them to think of me as their brother and not as their personal assistant? I mean, why shouldn't they? Isn't it my right to feel like I'm loved by my own family? I've waited long enough for them to ease up and apologize for what they're doing, and I'm sick of it!" I placed my hands over my face and took deep breaths to calm down. Anger just clouds your mind, so much had I learned after living with Raph for fifteen years. If I wanted to talk with the others about this, I had to be calm and collected. I decided to go and try to talk with Leo about this, since he was the most mature and calm out of my brothers.

I walked out of the lab and into the living room and saw Leo, Raph and Mikey sitting and watching TV lazily. Mikey was sitting inches away from the TV screen and his blue eyes were filled with excitement and happiness. Raph and Leo also seemed rather pulled into the show as well. I decided to start slowly and not go right at the problem, wait until the show was over and then start to talk about the issue at hand. Leo smiled lightly at me when I sat down, but Raph and Mikey didn't even seem to notice me. The awkward tension between us felt so thick that you cut it with a knife, and I felt like I couldn't breathe with it clouding the atmosphere.

When the show was finally over, Leo stood up and said that it was time for patrol. But I was quick to interrupt.

"Uh, Leo? Can we talk for a second? I just wanna ask something." Leo looked sternly at me and raised an eyebrow, and for a moment I thought that he was suspicious about what I had to say.

"It's getting late, Donnie. If we don't go now, we'll get home late tonight." I nodded. I had expected this. Leo was always like this, he didn't want to waste time when it came to patrolling. It had been like that even before all this happened.

"I know, but it's really quick, I promise!" Raph rolled his eyes at me, picked up his sai from the couch and spun them between his fingers a few times before he secured them on his belt and sneered at me.

"Oh, come on, Leo! Stop wasting time talking, and let's go! He's probably just gonna complain again, like he always does." I stopped for a second, blinked twice and it took a few seconds to process what Raph had said. But when I understood what Raph was implying, I glared at him angrily and put on my hand on my hip.

"Excuse me? You wanna run that by me again? What do you mean, I always complain?!" Raph turned to me, a little surprised to see me so angry, but recovered himself and glared right back at me.

"Only that all you seem to do lately is complain. 'Oh, Leo and Raph, you never listen to me! Mikey, you're in the way when I try to work on my experiments! Can't you just try to treat me with respect?' Ugh! Donnie, I'm gonna give you some advice: nobody wants to listen to a whiner!" I felt my own anger build up inside and instead of ignoring Raph, like I should have, I yelled right back at him.

"Oh, so that means I have to put up with Leo never listening to me, you disrespecting me and Mikey being in the way when I try to work? I am trying to create more retromutagen, create more smoke bombs- that  _you_  requested, by the way- and also try to come up with new weapons to help us defeat Shredder and Kraang! How can I do that when you guys always interrupt or give me other things to do?!" Raph was about to yell back when Leo stepped between us and glared- at me! In the corner of my eye I saw that Mikey looked pretty hurt, but right now my eyes were glued on Raph and Leo.

"Okay, that's enough, Donnie, you're way out of line!" I almost didn't believe what I was hearing. Leo was defending  _Raph_  and accusing  _me_  of being too harsh. I turned my anger towards Leo instead.

" _ME_? What have  _I_  done to-" Leo interrupted and grabbed his swords, putting them on his back.

"Come on team, let's go on patrol. And Donnie, we'll have to talk about this new attitude of yours later." I was furious! How was this fair? Why was  _I_  made the bad guy here?  _They_  were the ones that didn't treat  _me_  fairly! I groaned loudly and drew my staff out of the strap on my back, swinging it around in frustration.

" _Ugh_! This is  _so_  unfair!" Leo turned to me and raised an eyebrow. Raph looked mildly amused, but at the same time incredibly bored, and Mikey just looked confused. Leo looked me in the eyes, placed both hands on his sides and put on a stern face.

"Oh? How is this unfair?" I turned to him again and I had to blink a few times so I wouldn't start crying. I had been ridiculed, insulted and disrespected by my brothers. I was  _not_  about to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break down crying.

"You've never been there for me! All that I'm doing in the lab, that I'm building, inventing and creating, is for you guys! But you never ever ask me if I have any ideas of my own or if I want anything from you! And you always expect me to fix everything in this home without any second thoughts!  _That_  is unfair!" Leo scoffed, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ugh, Donnie do you even hear yourself? We're all putting our lives on the lines everyday in order to fight the evil in this city and even this world, and you're complaining about not getting enough respect? You're acting like a baby! I get teased, ridiculed and disrespected by you three and you don't hear me complaining!" I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a second and tried to calm down a little.

"Yeah, you do. Remember that time in China Town? You wanted us to fight the way you did when the point of the exercise was to get past you in any way we could. You complained then, didn't you?" Leo growled, walked up to me and dropped his arms to his sides.

"Yeah? Well, just because I was wrong about wanting you guys to fight like I did and I shouldn't force you to be like me, doesn't mean I should have to deal with you treating me like dirt and complain about how I act as your leader!" Okay, talk about a hypocrite right there! He was saying that I shouldn't complain about being disrespected when he does the exact same thing. In fact, he was complaining and whining right when he was scolding me for doing it!

"You're such a hypocrite, you know that? You felt the same way I do right now, and you tell me to not react the same way you did?" Leo glared at me, and I could see he was trying to calm down.

"Donnie, I learned that doing the right thing is more important than to earn respect and glory, maybe you should learn that too and not go around looking for admiration or love. Like you do with April." My jaw fell to the floor. How could  _this_  be Leonardo? My big brother, who always strove to make us happy and keep us all safe? But I didn't loose my footing.

"Oh, you mean like how you're obsessed with Karai and making her come over to our side?" Leo was taken back and for a moment I thought he was gonna cry, but we got interrupted. Raph rolled his eyes, pushed Leo out of the way and shoved his face up by mine. A little closer than I liked, but I was too angry to care.

"Okay, Donnie; if you're gonna stand here and try to convince us that  _we're_  the bad guys here, then maybe  _you_  should take a look in the mirror yourself!  _You_  ditched us when April was in danger before, even though you knew we needed you!  _You_  released that monster of yours in your lab because you couldn't keep your mouth shut! You haven't exactly been doing nothing but great things lately either!" Anger clouded my head and I couldn't think clearly. I shoved Raph away from me and glared at him.

"Oh, sure, I'm the only one who's done horrible things! I saved one of our friends from being killed and you sent your pet turtle out to kill us, after you spilled mutagen in your room! Why did you take that mutagen again? Oh yeah, 'for safe keeping'. A great idea, by the way, Raph!" Raph growled at me and pushed me back.

"You were firing explosive fireworks around the lair and almost killed us and Spike! You've done nothing but mess up and have almost killed us more than once!" I pressed my finger into his plastron and pressed my face closer to his.

"At least  _I'm_  doing something to help the situation! You've done nothing lately other than give  _me_  pointless things to do here in the lair!" Raph's face showed nothing but pure rage, and he was about to yell back at me when Mikey interrupted us with a weak and sad voice.

"Guys, please stop fighting. Donnie, I'm sorry that I've messed up some of your experiments. I just wanted to hang out or help you. I'm sorry." I felt my anger cool down and I was about to answer Mikey, when Raph interrupted.

"Don't apologize, Mikey! He's just fishing for sympathy, just ignore him!" Immediately the anger returned to me and I seethed at Raph again.

"I am not! I'm just asking for a little respect! Is that a crime?" Leo shook his head, placed his hand on Raph's shoulder and gently pushed him aside. He walked up in front of me and talked calmly.

"Of course not, but you're acting like you want us to look up to you or worship your work, and granted, your inventions are really cool, but you can't force us to think you're awesome or something like that. It doesn't work like that!" Yeah, but wasn't what I meant. If I were a little calmer, then maybe this discussion could've turned out better, but sadly I was furious and couldn't help myself.

"Have you been listening to anything that I've been telling you?! I'm not asking for you to admire me, I just-" Leo interrupted again, held up his hand in a 'stop, there's no point in arguing with me' way and looked sternly at me.

"That is enough, Donatello! I will hear no more of this!" I felt the tears burn in my eyes, so I looked down at my feet, blinked hard to get rid of them and bit my lower lip. Three small words managed to slip out of my mouth. Three words that I thought I would  _never_  say to any of my brothers, ever. But still, they came out my mouth, not louder than a whisper but still loud enough so everyone in the room could hear them.

"I hate you..." I looked up for a second to see the reactions, and I felt a small twinge of victory in my chest. Leo looked both flabbergasted and hurt, and his glare had melted into a sad and hurt face. Raph's eyes had widened and he looked a little hurt as well, but he tried to cover it up with a glare, folded his arms over his chest and looked down at the floor, trying to look unfazed. Mikey had a few tears running down his face and I immediately felt bad for making my only little brother cry, but I couldn't help it. It had to be said or I would explode from the anger built up in my heart.

"What is going on in here? Why haven't you gone out for your evening patrol?" We all turned to Master Splinter, who stood in the doorway to the dojo and looked at us with stern but concerned eyes. I quickly dried away the few tears that had managed to slip out from my eyes, turned to Splinter again and tried to smile.

"It's okay, Sensei, we were just about to leave. Right, bros?" It took all the strength and willpower I had to say the word 'bros', since I was still mad at them, but I couldn't let Master Splinter know that. Leo nodded slowly and looked up at Splinter, but didn't even bother to try and smile. He sighed sadly.

"Yeah, right..." He looked down at the floor immediately after and we all started to walk out of the lair. Before I walked out of the lair I turned to look over my shoulder, at Splinter, and looked at his face. I could see that he saw that something was wrong, but I decided to tell him about what happened when we got back, and ran out of the lair to catch up with the others.

Even though it felt so good to get it all off my chest, I couldn't help but feel guilty over what I had said just a few seconds ago. I knew that we all got into fights sometimes, and we had all said things we didn't mean before. But the words 'I hate you' had never, ever been brought into those fights. Not even between Leo and Raph. Not even when we were kids. I walked behind my brothers and saw that none of them were smiling or even trying to look normal.

In a way, I had won the fight. But this victory didn't feel the least bit good, as I had hoped that it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow, that was a tense chapter. I hope I didn't villanize any of the turtles, cause that wasn't the intention. The intention is make both sides have flaws, not see things that clearly and in the end learn a lesson about how they're acting. Not just Leo, Raph and Mikey.
> 
> Anyway, hope you'll like this chapter and please bookmark and comment below!


	3. Chapter 2, Suddenly a million miles apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tries to foil the Kraang's plans and it backfires terribly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: New chapter time! So, I'm gonna try to update regularily but I'm not making any promises. I am currently trying to find a job and have other things going on in my life, but I'll try my best. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter and what it has to offer! Enjoy!

 

As we walked through the sewers we were all quiet and the atmosphere was really tense. Our argument back at the lair had gotten out of control and I guess that I had gone a little over the line, but Donnie had been just as bad. I've been trying to keep cool and focus on keeping the city safe from Shredder and Kraang. Not to mention our current Karai situation! Could you blame me if I was a little tense and stressed and wanting try and keep order in the lair?

But I had never expected that he would say that he hated us. None of us have ever said that before. Not even Raph during his worst temper tantrums.

We got onto the rooftops and ran towards April's house, where we were supposed to meet both April and Casey and then go off on patrol together. A while back, Mr. Kurtzman had told us that the Kraang were trying to open up their portal again and that they might bring out new mutants or monsters from their dimension. So tonight we were going to check it out, and then destroy their portal if we had to. It seemed to be at the same place where April, Donnie and Casey had found those Kraang worms a few weeks earlier, so that's where we were headed.

April and Casey were standing on the roof of April's apartment and looked up from the street, waving at us. But when she saw that we didn't smile, or respond in any way at all, April's smile faltered and she looked at me with concern. She walked up and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Leo, are you guys okay? You don't look so good." I didn't know what to answer. I didn't want to talk about our fight, not yet. I looked at my brothers, who didn't look like they wanted to talk about our fight either. Raph had a sad/angry frown on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. Mikey's eyes were red from his crying and he kept looking down at his feet, rubbing his left arm subconsciously. And Donnie's expression was a little harder to read. It looked like a mixture of anger, guilt and hurt and he had his arms crossed over his chest, just like Raph. I shrugged and tried to smile.

"We've just had a little argument tonight, April. It's no big deal, really. C'mon, guys, let's get moving." I gently shrugged off April's hand and started to walk towards the edge of the building so I could spot the closest manhole. Raph, Mikey and Donnie slowly followed me, but April and Casey stayed behind for a few seconds, looked at each other in concern and worry and then joined us.

As we walked through the sewers, I thought over our fight back at the lair. Donnie had seemed really upset and hurt about what we all had said to him, (except for Mikey, that is, who hadn't really said much at all during our fight) and I could've sworn I had seen tears in his eyes. Donnie wasn't the kind of guy who would cry over nothing or simple, trivial things. So this had to be about something that really hurt him, and not something he just told us because he wanted to more recognition for what he did for us. I hadn't seen Donnie cry since we were about nine or ten years old, so the thought that I was responsible for making him cry was less than comforting. I looked over my shoulder and glanced at Donnie, who still had his arms crossed over his chest, looking down at the ground; the slight anger I had seen in his eyes earlier was replaced with sadness and guilt. I felt bad for seeing him like this, so I decided to talk to him about what had been said back at the lair later when we came home again.

The Kraang were busy preparing their portal for something. There were about fifteen Kraang-bots: five at the computers, programming the portal to open, I guess, and ten others were fixing the portal itself. We were all sitting behind a pile of fallen debris, looking down at the robots and trying to figure out what their plan was. Well, except for Raph, who grabbed his sai and was about to jump down to the ground and fight, but I managed to grab his arm just in time before he could.

"Hold on, Raph, let's listen to what their plan is before we destroy the place. It might be important." Raph glared at me and pointed down to the Kraang with the tip of his sai.

"Does it really matter? They're messing with that portal, and they're probably about to bring more of those Kraang-worms! Whatever they're up to, we have to stop them!" April shushed us both, pointed towards the Kraang and we both looked over to see what was going on. One of the Kraang-bots, who I guess was the boss right now, had started to talk.

"Kraang, when is the plan which is known as the plan of the Kraang that which is known as ready?" Wow, even after fighting the Kraang for almost a year I still couldn't get used to how the Kraang talked. Another Kraang-bot looked up from the computer.

"The plan of the Kraang will be ready in the time which is known as five minutes. Then the Kraatharagon will be that which is known as ready to be sent from that place that is known as Dimension X to the place where Kraang is standing in this place." Uh oh, that didn't sound very good. I signalled the guys to come closer so they could hear me.

"Okay, here's the plan. Raph, you and Casey take out as many Kraang as you can over at those computers. Mikey and I will will handle the other Kraang-bots. Donnie, you and April will try to close that portal. Got it?" All of them nodded and we split up.

Had I known what would happen in the next five minutes, I would've kept Donnie as far away from that portal as I possibly could, but I didn't. And I would live to regret that for a very, very long time.

* * *

Donnie and I snuck towards the portal and tried to stay in the shadows while the others were distracting the Kraang. I saw Leo slice through a robot and Casey hit another one in the head, making it fly off the neck like a hockey puck.

I quickly got other things to think of as Donnie and I came up to the portal.

"You know what to do to fix this, right, Donnie?" Donnie nodded and opened up a hatch that revealed a bunch of wires and started to pull at a few of them.

"Don't worry, April, I've done this before, remember? All I have to do is reverse the polarity and then-" Suddenly a Kraang-droid fired at Donnie's head, and he barely had time to dodge. Unfortunately the laser bullet hit the box filled with wires. The portal began to spark and purple light started to glow around the entire machinery. The other guys and Kraang-bots stopped their fighting and looked up at the portal, for a moment forgetting about the enemy. Donnie looked at the wires, which were now fried, then grabbed my wrist, pulled me over to them and tied us both to the portal while crying out to the others.

"Everybody, hang on to something!" He yelled loudly, just as the portal started to suck up everything in the room. Donnie and I felt the wires tighten around us as the portal tried to suck us both in. Leo grabbed onto some debris that was stuck between two big rocks and held onto Mikey's arm to keep both of them from flying through purple vortex, while Raph dragged himself and Casey behind the same debris and clung onto it for dear life.

"What's going on, Donnie?! Why is the portal sucking in everything like a tornado?!" Mikey yelled as loudly as he could to be heard over the winds at Donnie, who clung onto the portal's metal beams.

"I- I don't know! The Kraang fired at the wires and I think it's causing the portal to malfunction and suck everything back into some other planet or galaxy! But I'm not entirely sure!" Leo held Mikey as close to himself as possible while he clung to a pipe in the pile of debris. He looked over at me and Donnie.

"Do you think you can shut it down, Don?" I heard Donnie laugh to himself before he answered.

"You're kidding, right? The portal is out of control right now, there's nothing I can do to stop it now!" Raph groaned loudly and I heard Casey yell back to Donnie.

"That's just great, Donnie! Can this possibly get any worse?!" Just as he said that, I heard a snap and looked down at the wires. I saw that one of the wires that Donnie had tied around his waist had started to break. Donnie saw this as well and clung to the metal beams even tighter.

"Donnie, grab my hand!" I cried out and reached for him. Donnie looked at me, stretched out his hand and grabbed mine just as the last wire snapped and I was yanked forward. I painfully felt the wires around my waist tighten at the added weight. The others cried out in fear and panic when they saw what happened, and I heard Leo cry out in terror.

"Donnie, do not let go!" Donnie looked over his shoulders and glared at Leo while trying to hold onto my hand.

"Why in the world would I  _let go_?!" I grabbed Donnie's hand with both of mine and tried to pull him back to safety; I barely managed to move him an inch, the power of the vortex was too strong. Raph and Mikey also looked at us and looked like they were about to run forward and save him, if they could.

"Leo, we have to do something! We have to save him!" Mikey called out to Leo, who looked down at him with equal fear.

"Yeah, I know! But we can't, we'll get pulled into the portal, too!" Raph growled at Leo, was about to yell at him but he saw something, pointed with a panic-stricken expression and cried out to Donnie.

"Donnie, look out!" Donnie and I looked up to see a Kraang-droid flying towards us with his gun pointed at us, and before we could react, the robot fired his gun and hit Donnie straight in the chest. Donnie yelled out in pain before he lost his grip on my hand and tumbled into the portal with a scream of terror.

" _DONNIE_!" Leo screamed, joined by Raph and Mikey. I reached to try and grab his hands again but they were just out of my reach.

"NO! GUYS!  _HELP ME_!" Donnie cried out in fear. He flailed his arms around to try and grab onto anything so he could save himself, but couldn't find anything within his reach.

"DONNIE!" Raph cried and reached out his hand for him, even though he must've known it was too late. Then the Kraang fired again and hit Donnie in the head, making him scream in pain before he lost consciousness, just before he was sucked in through the portal. As soon as he was out of sight, the portal closed and we all fell to the ground. Leo got up first, ran to the portal and looked through it, even though it was closed and the only thing we could see was another sewer tunnel.

" _DONNIE_!" Leo looked frantically through the tunnel as if he could find his brother in there. "No!  _NO_! DONNIE! Donnie, please, can you hear me? Where are you?!" Raph and Mikey ran up behind him and looked through the tunnel, even though there was nothing to see other than a few frightened rats and filthy wrappers. I cut through the wires with my Tessen and ran up to the others, along with Casey not far behind.

Mikey fell to his knees, buried his face in his hands and started to cry loudly. I knelt down beside him and placed both hands on his shoulders to try and console him. Leo placed his hands over his face and I could hear him crying, too, though not as loudly as Mikey, and he soon fell to his knees as well. Casey tried to place his hand on Raph's shoulder, but he slapped his hand away, saying nothing. His breathing was heavy, his eyes were frantic, his body tense, and I could hear him mutter to himself.

"Donnie, no..." His breathing quickened, he clenched his fists tightly and then he threw his head back and cried out so loudly that his voice echoed throughout the entire sewer system of New York City.

" _NOOO_!"

* * *

The sky was dark, and the night was cold. The military forces had been patrolling all day and it was getting harder to hide from them. I had been hiding up in my cave for quite a few days now and the shields I had programmed for protection were starting to wear thin. I had very little technology to work with, here in my cave.

Suddenly a bright light shone in the sky, disappearing just as quickly. The rational person inside me told me to stay in my cave and stay safe. But the scientist in me told me to go and explore what had happened. That side eventually won and I quickly ran out of the cave and towards the woods. What I saw was not what I expected.

In a clearing I saw a big terrapin creature laying in the dry grass beside a broken robot and some sort of alien squid that crawled away, squealing in pain and anger. I knelt down beside the terrapin and looked him over. He had a big wound on the side of his head and another wound on his plastron, and he was very much unconscious. His face was scrunched up in pain and his breathing was shallow.

I felt bad for this poor and wounded creature and thought over whether I should help him or not. I was a fugitive and I would most likely be hunted the very next day, and who knows? This creature might be even more dangerous than my current enemies. But I couldn't just leave him like this. He would die if I did. I made up my mind, lifted the creature and held him bridal style, and hurried back to my cave to take care of his wounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Done! Can you guess who that unknown character in the end was? If you have any guess, please do share in your reviews!  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review, kudos or bookmark!


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